Flight Instructor Certificate,
Airplane Single Engine (CFI-A): You will have to pass two FAA knowledge exams (Fundamentals of
Instruction and Flight Instructor Airplane). During the practical training you
will learn to fly the airplane to commercial pilot standards from the right
seat, to explain and demonstrate the various private and commercial maneuvers,
and to recognize and critique common mistakes while your flight instructor plays
the part of a student. If you have just recently obtained your commercial pilot
certificate, all the maneuvers should still be fresh in your mind and the
training will typically involve about 15 to 20 hours of dual instructionin the Piper Arrow, as well as 40 to 60 hours of ground training. The
ground trainingwill cover such areas as preparing lesson plans, explaining the
various subjects you will have to be able to teach, as well as flight instructor
responsibilities and other regulatory requirements.

The training will take about 3 to 5 weeks, andwill also involve a large amount of self study and
preparation of lesson plans. If it has been a long time since you took your
commercial flight test and all the maneuvers have to be re-learned, you should
plan on possibly up to an additional 5 hours of dual instruction, and allow one
additional week for the training. If, on the other hand you have just recently
completed your single engine commercial training with Prairie Air Service, Inc.
it will probably take slightly less flying time since you will already be
familiar with the airplane.

We frequently have more than one customer working onhis or her flight instructor certificate at the same time. In this case
the ground school will be conducted in group sessions and the cost of the
instructor will be shared, which will reduce the cost for each CFI student.

Initial Flight Instructor Flight
Tests: Since 1988 the FAA
policy has been that all initial flight instructor flight tests shall be
conducted only by FAA inspectors at FAA field offices. If a field office
frequently experiences a backlog of 15 days or longer that office is then
authorized to designate examiners for initial CFI certification. The Wichita FAA
Flight Standards District Office does not meet the 15 day backlog requirement
and therefore cannot issue initial instructor examining authority to designated
instructor examiners. They do allow examiners to conduct only flight tests for
additional instructor ratings or CFI renewal or re-instatement. The Oklahoma
City FSDO on the other handdoes
meet the 15 day requirement and there are several designated examiners in the
Oklahoma City district (primarily in the Tulsa area) who are authorized to
conduct initial CFI flight tests, and who can be scheduled with just a few days
prior notice.

You therefore have two choices for your initial CFI flight test: You can
take it free of charge at the Wichita FSDO, or if we are unable to get an
appointment in Wichita you can take it with a designated examiner in the
Oklahoma City district. Since the initial CFI flight test is quite time
consuming, the examiners charge between $ 400.00 and $ 500.00. You cantake the initial CFI flight test with a designated pilot examiner only if
you are not able to schedule an appointment with the Wichita FSDO. The Wichita
FSDO has to give permission for you to take the initial CFI flight test out of
district.